Factory Five Roadster Body Install - Project Snake Charmer Part: 12

We Finalize Our Wiring and Start on the Body

As we alluded to last month, the wiring phase of our project really debilitated our schedule for completion. As with most of our projects, we have a specific show in mind at which to debut our FFR Roadster project. This time, it was to be the 13th Annual Silver Springs Mustang Roundup in Central Florida. We've never missed a year of this show, and we've debuted completed projects from several magazines there. Alas, between a few parts delays and the wiring taking longer than we thought, we had to push back our projected completion date.

Our next option was the NMRA season opener in Bradenton, Florida, in March, but there was little chance we'd have the car back from paint then, let alone have time to install the interior, register the car, and so on.

So now we are planning for the 10th Annual Mustangs & Mustangs: Legends Havin' Fun show in Polk City, Florida, in April of this year. Keep an eye on our Web diary for up-to-date info on where we'll finally unveil the project.

It took about a weekend to wrap up the remaining wiring for the project. We had to finish wiring the dash area and then completely wire the nose of the car, including the lights, fan, horn, and so on. The nose wiring wasn't too stressful since the horns, fan, and lights were pretty much in fixed positions, or at least they were fixed once we decided on their mounting points.

As we said last month, the wiring isn't technically difficult; it's the thought that goes into parts placement, wire routing, and future servicing that takes up so much time. But it's time well spent. Mapping out the wiring harnesses on paper and noting special splices, crimps, fuse, and relay locations helps for any possible repairs or upgrades you may do.

Of course, the best-laid plans can still be foiled. For instance, we planned on having an open underdash area, so we mounted the EFI fuse block where we felt it was easily accessible. We then added an underdash block-off panel to clean up things and add security to our ignition wiring. In order to access the EFI fuses, we'll now have to remove the complete dash assembly. While it's only six screws and a few wiring plugs, we may still relocate the EFI fuses for easier servicing before the car is finished.